Making comparisons is a natural human activity. From antiquity to the present,
generations of humans have sought to understand and explain the similarities and
differences they perceive between themselves and others. Though historically, the
discovery of new peoples was often the product of a desire to conquer them,
the need to understand the similarities and differences between the conquerors
and the conquered was none the less strong. At the turn of the new millennium,
citizens in all countries compare their position in society to those of others in terms
of their regional, ethnic, linguistic, religious, familial, and cultural allegiances and
identities; material possessions; economic, social and political positions; and relative
location in systems of power and authority. Students grow up worried about their
types of fashion, circle of friends, collections of music, appearance and behaviour of
their partners, money earned by their parents, universities they attend, and careers
they may achieve.
In short, to compare is to be human. But beyond these everyday comparisons,
how is the process of comparison scientific? And how does the comparison of
countries help us understand the larger political world? In order to answer these
important questions, this chapter is divided into four sections. The first section
establishes the four main reasons for comparison, including contextual description,
classification and 'typologizing', hypothesis-testing and theory-building, and
prediction (Hague et ale 1992: 24-27; Mackie and Marsh 1995: 173-176). The
second section specifies how political science and the sub-field of comparative politics
can be scientific, outlining briefly the similarities and differences between political
science and natural science. The third section clarifies the terms and concepts used
in the preceding discussion and specifies further those terms and concepts needed for
a science of politics. The fourth section summarizes these reasons, justifications, and
terms for a science of comparative politics.